Kamanda~SD
New member
Well it took 2 and a half weeks, but my new guitar is finally back in my hands! It was quite the journey so let me enlighten you... (other pics at the bottom)
I was randomly checking a local (45 min away) stores website for used strats when I saw it: a mim richie samboura strat! It had everything I wanted my next strat to have, a floyd, HSS, white etc! I already have a black mim standard hss but I was looking for another strat so I could have 2 strats, but each different!
So I went and tried it out and it played AMAZING, there wasnt much info on the strats online so I had to make my own judgement. It has a bigger neck ("D" i beleive I read somewhere), is WAY heavier then my other strat (although I'm pretty sure its still alder) and the pikcups were much better. Now...here was the problems. First, no locking nuts or trem arm, the dimarzio paf pro in the bridge position was not working right (massive drop in volume, sounded thinner then single coils) and frets 15-17 fretted out on the b and g strings. BUT, because this guitar felt SOO solid and just "felt right" I had to get it...and I knew all those things could be easily fixed! so I talked him down and got it.
Now...heres where the fun began! Brought it into the local shop the next day for a full setup and all that jazz. I replaced the dimarzio (after trying different wirings with no avail) with a seymour duncan JB, got the replacement parts for the floyd, got the fretwork done etc...it took longer the nexpected but man was it worth it!!
Now it plays like a dream! Compared to my mim standard it's:
-heavier
-way more solid feeling
-more strat like quack
-different features
I still love my mim standard, but I'm glad I got this as it is still a strat...but is still DIFFERENT enough to feel like a different guitar!
Here's all the features I've seemed to grab so far:
-5 peice alder (but freakin heavy) body
-Floyd Rose II system (one of my biggest things was I didnt want a liscened trem unless it was a schaller, the floyd rose II is still a lesser version of the OFR BUT it is made BY floyd rose)
- maple neck (beautifuly aged look) with rosewood fingerboard (with great colour and grain)
-"D" shape neck
- Seymour Duncan JB trembucker (this pickup is AMAZING! I might even like it better then my Custom in my other strat)
-Medium Jumbo Frets
I think thats it, sorry for the long post but I thought I'd post my whole story as its been a fun one! As of now it plays AMAZING and everything is top notch. It does have some finish cracks and it slightly buzzes on the frets that were fretting out. Also the humbucker is wired out of phase so the inbetween position sounds very twangy and tele like (I actually like it).
And one last thing, if anyone wants to hear how stupid the local guy is when it comes to Fender's please ask! I'd love to vent about that.
And not to forget my other strat (i forgot to take a group picture so you'll have to settle for this):
EDIT: I also finished building my pedalboard:
I was randomly checking a local (45 min away) stores website for used strats when I saw it: a mim richie samboura strat! It had everything I wanted my next strat to have, a floyd, HSS, white etc! I already have a black mim standard hss but I was looking for another strat so I could have 2 strats, but each different!
So I went and tried it out and it played AMAZING, there wasnt much info on the strats online so I had to make my own judgement. It has a bigger neck ("D" i beleive I read somewhere), is WAY heavier then my other strat (although I'm pretty sure its still alder) and the pikcups were much better. Now...here was the problems. First, no locking nuts or trem arm, the dimarzio paf pro in the bridge position was not working right (massive drop in volume, sounded thinner then single coils) and frets 15-17 fretted out on the b and g strings. BUT, because this guitar felt SOO solid and just "felt right" I had to get it...and I knew all those things could be easily fixed! so I talked him down and got it.
Now...heres where the fun began! Brought it into the local shop the next day for a full setup and all that jazz. I replaced the dimarzio (after trying different wirings with no avail) with a seymour duncan JB, got the replacement parts for the floyd, got the fretwork done etc...it took longer the nexpected but man was it worth it!!
Now it plays like a dream! Compared to my mim standard it's:
-heavier
-way more solid feeling
-more strat like quack
-different features
I still love my mim standard, but I'm glad I got this as it is still a strat...but is still DIFFERENT enough to feel like a different guitar!
Here's all the features I've seemed to grab so far:
-5 peice alder (but freakin heavy) body
-Floyd Rose II system (one of my biggest things was I didnt want a liscened trem unless it was a schaller, the floyd rose II is still a lesser version of the OFR BUT it is made BY floyd rose)
- maple neck (beautifuly aged look) with rosewood fingerboard (with great colour and grain)
-"D" shape neck
- Seymour Duncan JB trembucker (this pickup is AMAZING! I might even like it better then my Custom in my other strat)
-Medium Jumbo Frets
I think thats it, sorry for the long post but I thought I'd post my whole story as its been a fun one! As of now it plays AMAZING and everything is top notch. It does have some finish cracks and it slightly buzzes on the frets that were fretting out. Also the humbucker is wired out of phase so the inbetween position sounds very twangy and tele like (I actually like it).
And one last thing, if anyone wants to hear how stupid the local guy is when it comes to Fender's please ask! I'd love to vent about that.
And not to forget my other strat (i forgot to take a group picture so you'll have to settle for this):
EDIT: I also finished building my pedalboard:
